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{Review} Beautiful Stranger by Christina Lauren

12:00 AM

Format: Audio

Publication date: April 16, 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

How I got the copy: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (Thank you!)

Rating: 5 Stars

From Goodreads:

Escaping a cheating ex, finance whiz Sara Dillon’s moved to New York City and is looking for excitement and passion without a lot of strings attached. So meeting the irresistible, sexy Brit at a dance club should have meant nothing more than a night’s fun. But the manner—and speed—with which he melts her inhibitions turns him from a one-time hookup and into her Beautiful Stranger.The whole city knows that Max Stella loves women, not that he’s ever found one he particularly wants to keep around. Despite pulling in plenty with his Wall Street bad boy charm, it’s not until Sara—and the wild photos she lets him take of her—that he starts wondering if there’s someone for him outside of the bedroom.Hooking up in places where anybody could catch them, the only thing scarier for Sara than getting caught in public is having Max get too close in private.

Plot: 8/10

Characters: 8/10

Setting: 9/10

Pacing: 8/10

Style: 8/10

Cover: I love that blue font on the black and white. It goes perfect with the first books cover while still looking completely different.

41+50=91 (5 Stars)

Companion novels sometimes are hard to get into because while the characters are familiar, they are not the ones you originally fell in love with. This story was not that way at all. Chloe and Bennett (from Beautiful Bastard) are in it a lot, especially in the beginning. We get to see how they're doing since the last book. If it's even possible I loved Max and Sara more than Chloe and Bennett though. Max is British, established, funny, and charming. And Sara is emotionally guarded, feisty, and adventurous yet still very cautious. The two were the perfect pair. On paper they don't make sense together, but their chemistry was palpable. I loved that for once the woman had complete control over the arrangement. Too often in books it's the man making all the rules and being distant.

I love how the characters are also very different than the first book. They don't hate each other like Chloe and Bennett did. In fact they're infatuated with each other the more they get together. The plot was formatted the same as the first book where the characters hook up for most of the book, then something blows up at the end, and then they finally admit their feelings. This always lends for an exciting and captivating story.

Listening to this made me want to listen to audiobooks all the time now. I love the guy that read for Max. His accent sounded like a British Gerard Butler to me. I'm a huge fan of Gerard so that was a major plus for me. It definitely added to the experience to be able to hear the POVs read by the different people. The only thing I didn't like was when Sara was narrating and the woman read Max's dialouge. Her voice got really low and weird and kind of ruined the intimate moment. Originally I was a little worried it would be awkward to listen to a book of this genre, but it actually was not awkward at all. There were no weird sound effects or anything. It was narrated well.

Fans of Sophie Kinsella's books should definitely try this one. It's got the same humor and romance, with a pinch of those intimate scenes these two authors write so well. This is definitely a great beach read.

Also, there's another book and some novellas coming out in this series!!!! Who else is excited!?

Sara pulled back and her eyes widened in realization. "Oh, crap.""Calm down," I told her quietly. "No one here gives a f*** who we are. They hardly remember my name every week.""Patently untrue," Richie said. "Your name is Twat."I tilted my head to him, smiling at Sara. "Like I said.” ― Christina Lauren, Beautiful Stranger